Wire-nail-making machine



(No Model.) A 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. LORING 8v E. S. MORTON.

WIRI: NAIL MAKING MACHINE. No. 314,253. Patenfted Mar. 24, 1885.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

" S. LORING 8a E. SMORTON.

WIRE NAIL MAKING MACHINE Patent-ed Mar. 24

Iman/tors. ,g u d @7 Wtn/csses.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL LORIN G, OF DUXBURY, AND 'EPHRAIM S. MORTON, OF PLYMOUTH,MASSACHUSETTS.

WIRE-NAIL-MAKING MACHlNE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 314,253, dated March24, 1885.

Application filed March 3, 1884. (No model.)

To all w/'wm it may concern: Beit known that we, SAMUEL LORING, ofDuxbury, and EPHRAIM S. MoRToN, of Plymouth, both in the county ofPlymouth, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvementsin Wire Nail and Rivet Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has for its object to provide IO an improved machine forforming nails or rivets from a continuous length of wire.

The invention consists in the improved mechanism hereinafter described,whereby wire nails' or rivets of any desired size and length may beproduced, having heads of any desired size, or nails may be producedWithout heads, if preferred, all of which we will now proceed todescribe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a 2o part of this specification,Figure l represents a top view of our improved machine. Fig. lLLrepresents a partial top view, with parts of the mechanism removed. Fig.2 represents a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 representsalongitudinal section on line xx, Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a detail, partly insection, and Fig. -5 an elevation of one of the cutters.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the gures.

u represents the supporting frame or bed of thelmachine. I

b b represent the dies which grasp the nailwire while it is beingheaded. Thelower die, b', is secured to the bed in any suitable manner,preferably by means of a set-screw, c, passing through a raised portionor block, d, on the bed a, and bearing against one end of the die b',pressing the latter against a correspending raised portion or block, d',the lower 4o die being capable of adjustment on the bed, as hereinafterdescribed. The upper die, b, restsloosely on the lower die, so that itexerts no pressure on the wire between'said dies excepting when presseddownwardly by a cam, e, arranged over it on a rock-shaft, f, Awhich isjournaled in the blocks d d', andhas an arm or lever, g, one end ofwhich is drawn upwardly by a spring, h, against a cam, t', on thedriving-shaft j, hereinafter described. The 5o cam t' depresses the armg, and thus causes the cam e to press the upper die downwardly onceduring-each rotation of the driving-shaft.

For rivet-making we prefer to form the lower die, b', with anupwardly-projecting fiange or shoulder, b3, at the side next to thecutters and header, hereinafter described, the wire passing through anorifice in said shoulder. The end of the wire is upset against thesurface of the shoulder b3, which presents a c0ntinuous or uninterruptedsurface entirely 6J around the orifice through which the wire passes, sothat no fin will be produced on the back of the head. lf the head wereformed against the surface of both dies, a part of the displaced metalwould be forced into the crev- 5 5 ice at the meeting-point ofthe dies,and thus a iin would be-formed on the back of the rivet.

7c 7c represent the dies or cutters which sever the wire, (or, as weprefer, nearly sever it,) and form the usual beveled points of the nail.The 7o cutters k 7c are secured to slides Z l, which are fitted to slidein guides crosswise of the bed a. The slides `Z Z are reciprocated so asto alternately approach and recede from each other by levers m, pivotedat n to the bed a, and cams o on the drivingshaft j, the shorter arms ofsaid levers being engaged with the slides Z, as shown in Fig. 1, whiletheir longer arms have studs which engage with the cams o. The dies 7c7c are preferably formed on the perime- 8c ters of circular plates p p,each plate having a series of half-dies, 7c, and being secured to theslide Z, which carries it, by means of a bolt, q, adapted to be rotatedso as to bring either halldie thereon into position to eo-cperate 8 5with the corresponding half-die on the other plate. This constructionenables fresh dies to be readily brought into operative position, andsaves time in adjusting or renewing the dies. We do not limit ourselvesto this form, go however, as each slide may have a single halfdie, ifpreferred.

r represents the header, which upsets the end ofthe wire after theseparation of a nail therefrom, and thus forms the head of the nextnail. The header is a hammer attached toa slide, s, which is adapted toreciprocate in a longitudinal guide-groove in the bed a, and isreciprocated by means of the togglejoint links tt, a crank, u, on thedriving-shaft, 10o

and a connecting-piece, o, pivoted to the mceting ends of the links t t,and the crank u. One of the links t is pivoted at w to the bed, and theother at z to the slide s, so that as the crank revolves it willalternately raise and depress the meeting ends of the links, and thusreciprocate the slide sand header o'.

The wire from which the nails are made is fed forward through thegrasping dies by means of a feeding device composed of a reciprocatingblock, a', having an orifice for the passage ofthe wire, and a serrateddog or cam, c', pivoted to the block and pressed by a spring, e. againstthe wire, saidl dog being adapted to bite or grasp thewire when theblocka is moving toward the grasping-dies b band to slip on the wire when theblock is moving in the opposite direction. The block a moves betweenguides ff affixed to the bed a, and is provided on its under side withrack-teeth g', which mesh with a rack-segment, h, on a rock-shaft, i',extending transversely of the bed a, and provided with a crank, Zc, atone end, the wrist-pin of which enters a slot, Z', .in one end of aconnecting-rod, m. The oppositc end of said rod is secured to the ringor strap n? of an eccentric on the driving-shaft j. The eccentric, rod,and crank oscillate the shaft Z and its rack-segment, and thusreciprocate the block a', causing it to feed the wire intermittently.

The length of the feed movement may be regulated by means of anadjustable stop, n', in the slot Z of the connecting-rod, said stopbeing secured by aclamp, o', to the rod m, and adapted to be moved so asto either shorten or lengthen said slot, and thus cause it to give the'crank k and rock-shaft Z more or less movement, as the case may be. Thelength of the nails produced is thus determined.

Between the feeding slide or block a and the graspingdies b b' is atubular screw, b4, inserted in a tapped socket in a fixed boss on thebed a, and bearing at its inner end against the bottom die, b', said diehaving a rear shoulder or flange, b2, projecting above the meeting-pointof the dies b b. The wire passes from the feeding-block through thetubular screw and through an orifice in the flange b2 to the dies ZJ b.When the set-screw c is loosened, the bottom die, Il, is not positivelyconnected to the bed a, but is adapted to move thereon toward or fromthe cutting-dies k k. It will be seen, therefore, that by turning thetubular screw in its socket said screw may be caused to push thegrasping-dies toward the cutting-dies, so as to shorten the metal leftprojecting from the grasping-dies after the severing of each nail, andthus decrease the size of the heads formed by the action of the header.If desired, the grasping-dies may be thus moved to the point where thewire is severed by the cutting-dies, so that no heads will be formed onthe nails.

The time of the various operations of the machine is as follows: Supposea nail to have been severed, and the cutting-dies to haveseparated,leaving a short end of wire project ing from thegrasping-dies, the header now advances toward the grasping-dies, and theupper grasping-die is at the same time pressed downwardly by the cam c,so that the wire is rmly held while the header is upsetting theprojecting end of the wire and forming the head. "While the wire is thusheld the feed block moves backwardly and takes a new hold on the wire.The header now retires, cam@l revolves with shaft j, and allows spring hto draw up lever g, the cam e releases the upper grasping-jaw, and thefeed-block moves forward, feeding the wire along. Next, the cutting-diesapproach the wire, act on it, form the point of the nail last headed,and sever it, or, as we prefer, nearly sever it, from the wire, it beingfound advisable not to allow the cuttingdies to actually meet eachotheron account of the mutual injury to their edges from such contact, hencethey are caused to leave a thin neck connecting the nail with the wire.The cutters then separate, and the header again advances, thepartially-severed nail being knocked off from the wire by a clearer, r,which strikes the nail before the header reaches it. Said clearer ispreferably an elastic strip of metal secured at one end to the bed a,under the slide s, its other end being bent upwardly and projectingforward over the nail last formed. The advancing header strikes anincline on the clearer and depresses the end of it which projects overthe nail, causing said end to detach the nail, the header then passingover the clearer and forming the next head as before. When the headerretires, the clearer springs upwardly to its former position. Thedetached nails drop through an aperture in the bed into a receptaclebelow. y

It will be seen that this machine is simple in its construction,positive in its operation, and readily adjusted so as to produce nailsor rivets of any desired length, and with heads of any desired size, orwith no heads. All the motions are positive, and there are noactuating-springs to cause noise of operation and liability toderangement. The toggle-joint and crank mechanism whereby the header isoperated enable the header to be forced forward with great power, whilethe levers m, having longer and shorter arms, the former engaged withthe operating-cams, and the latter with the slides carrying thecutting-dies, enable said dies to act powerfully on the wire.

rIhe upper die, b, is not positively raised after being acted on by came, but bears on the wire lightly, its weight not being sufficient tointerrupt the forward movement of the wire.

W'e claiml. rlhe cutting and pointing dies composed of the plates p p,each having multiple halfdies k, and each adapted to be rotated to bringeither of its half-dies into operative position, combined withsupporting-slides Z Z, and the mechanism for reciprocating said dies, asset forth.

2. The combination of the grasping-dies b IOO - b, t-he upper lrestingloosely on the lower, the

header, of the clearer r,co1nposed of a spring- 15 cam e, located overthe upper grasping-Me, plate adapted to project normally over the andthe mechanislnfor oscillating said cam completed nail and to berdepressed by the and thereby causing it to alternately press andforward movement of the header, as set forth. release the die b, as setforth. In testimony whereof We have signed our i 3. The combination,with the header and names to this specification, in the presence of V2othe cutting dies, of grasping-dies b b, thelat tWo subscribingwitnesses, this 25th day of ter having a flange, b3, which projects infront February, 1884. of jaw b, provided With an orice for the passageof the wire, and presenting a seamless surface surrounding said orifice,Wherby formation of afm on the back of the rivet or nail head isprevented.

4. The combination, with the reciprocating Witnesses:

HENRY W. LoRING, GEORGE E. BENSON.

